Sonora, CA — Around election time, the Tuolumne County Chamber of Commerce’s Independent Political Action Committee traditionally makes recommendations regarding local races.
The Chamber’s Board of Directors voted this week make changes to the PAC, in hopes of allowing the Board to have more direction and oversight. It is noted that all of the changes still need to be approved by the PAC’s Board of Trustees.
The first alteration is to drop the word “Independent” from the PAC, so that it will become known as the “Tuolumne County Chamber of Commerce’s Political Action Committee.” Other revisions are that the Chamber Board of Directors would directly appoint seven of the nine members on the PAC. Currently only three are appointed by the Board of Directors, four by the Board of Trustees, one from the building industry and one from the Board of Realtors.
“I think it is a step in the right direction,” says Chris Caldwell, Chairman of the Chamber’s Board of Directors. “If the Political Action Committee is going to be out making influential endorsements and contributions, we want to make sure that it’s a nice diverse Board representing industries both large and small.”
The revisions also state that a PAC Trustee may be removed by a majority vote of the Board of Trustees, and a PAC Trustees may not contribute funds to a candidate or ballot measure that they have not officially endorsed.
